Stupinski paces Eagles to 1st title since ’93 Mount Ararat tops Broncos 3-1

HAMPDEN – After a first half in which the Hampden Academy girls kept finding progressively more excruciating ways to narrowly miss the net, Mount Ararat coach Sam Chard felt very fortunate to take a 1-0 lead into halftime of Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class A soccer title game.

The unfortunate thing was his Eagles of Topsham, the top-seeded team in the Southeast division, were due to battle a stiff wind after having it at their backs during a first half featuring rain, sun, cold, and a 20-minute sleet storm.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the second half. The sleet stopped, skies cleared, the sun came out, temperatures went up, and the wind waned as the Eagles scored again, withstood a determined Bronco comeback, and posted a 2-1 win for the program’s first regional crown since 1993.

The 17-1 Eagles will play West champ Edward Little of Auburn Saturday at a site to be determined. Hampden finishes up 17-1.

“We’ve had two [regional] runners-up and we did kind of get tired of just that. Yeah, this feels good,” admitted a broadly smiling Chard after the game. “We certainly dodged a bullet in the first half.”

Mount Ararat’s first goal came off a beautiful, cross-goal pass from sophomore midfielder Erika Stupinski. Stupinski won control of the ball on the wing, drove to the top of the penalty box, passed up a pretty good shot to draw the goalie out, and then zipped a pass over to striker Kelli Anderson, one of six senior starters.

Anderson booted the ball in from 10 yards out and the Eagles had a 1-0 lead with 23 minutes, 26 seconds left in the first half. The goal was originally credited to a different player, but Anderson wasn’t too concerned.

“Geez, it doesn’t matter. We won, right?” she said with a giggle.

Meanwhile, the Broncos were steadily upping the pressure on Mount Ararat goalie Ashley Nesbit. They kept the ball on the Eagles’ side of the field for most of the half’s remaining minutes and barely missed potential tying and leading goals as two point-blank shots barely deflected off the crossbar and the side support.

The fired-up Eagles’ renewed energy in the second half paid off as they added a second goal off a breakaway by Stupinski just four minutes and 42 seconds in.

Stupinski was all alone as she drove down the left side and Broncos netminder Emmy Russell came out to meet her. Stupinski let go a shot on the run, but it was deflected back to her by Russell, who had caught up with it about 20 yards outside the net. Stupinski kept her eyes on the ball and wasted no time kicking it back off the deflection, only this time with more force, and the ball sailed into the net.

“I just don’t like giving up, so I knew I had to get it back and get it in,” Stupinski said.

Hampden finally cracked the scoreboard 48 seconds later as junior Tyne Franchi delivered a nice pass from the right side to senior Katie Lindemann, who blasted it in from 10 yards facing the left corner of the net.

Almost 30 minutes later, the Eagles had a chance to get the goal back on a penalty kick of a Hampden handball penalty. Stupinski lined up for a shot and delivered a hard shot to the left side, but Russell (13 saves, 17 shots) knocked it away off her outstretched hands with a lunging save.

Junior goalie Nesbit made nine saves on 13 shots for the Eagles.

“That’s the way it goes. We had three or four good chances and just couldn’t get it in,” said HA coach Mark Franchi. “That makes all the difference in this kind of game.”